All posts by Patrick

The Big Clean up

jan 11 004

 

The first thing we did was to make a suitable sized parts washer.

jan 11 005

 

Initially  we are using red diesel to clean the crud off and flush out the oil ways. As you can see, one of the children couldn’t resist going  for a swim.

jan 7 027

 

The main bearing is silky smooth after being cleaned

jan 11 005

 

The next job we had to do was make some locking blocks for the sleeve drive shafts, to stop them drooping to one side when we rotate the engine, if this happens the rollers drop out from the sleeve drive shaft bearings and they are quite fiddly to get back in!

jan 11 008 jan 11 007

Using a endoscope you can see the amount of muck down the center of the drive shafts, all this needs to be cleaned out.

jan 11 026

Using various 12 bore shot gun cleaning tools they cleaned up a treat.

jan 11 025 jan 11 009

At the bottom of the shaft there still was a bit of muck stuck near the oil way so we made a special tool to clean the bottom face out.

jan 11 029jan 11 031  

Using the engine cleaning bath pump to flush out all of the oil ways.

jan 11 012 jan 11 011

Next job was to clean out the crank oil ways, after removing the crank blanking plugs you can see the amount of crap that has  formed  since the engine last ran.

jan 11 033 jan 11 036

 

After fully cleaning the internals and oil jets of the crank and flushing out it was time to put the first bit of the engine back together!

jan 11 034 jan 11 037

 

The next task was to remove the pistons from the con rods, quite a simple job just remove the snap rings and immerse in hot oil for a minute and tap out the gudgeon pins.

jan 11 016 jan 11 023

Half an hour later the kids are all lined up for a roll call!

jan 11 024

Now comes the long job of cleaned the pistons.

jan 11 003

Piston removal

The first job is to clean the bore of the sleeve below the piston,

dec 31 029

 

 

then placed the sleeves in containers and flooded the back of them with our Special Brew.

dec 31 030dec 31 032

 

After only a couple of hours the Special Brew had started to work its way through.

dec 31 045

 

While these are soaking, Pete machined up a base plate to fit our 20 tonne press, so the sleeves will sit square and hopefully we can push the pistons down out of the sleeves.

dec 31 012

 

dec 31 002

Since it’s New Years Eve, the top shed got a new sign, time for a little light refreshment,

Happy New Year everybody….

 

jan 7 009

 

The rear case came of quite easily, we used a chain pull to extract the case through bolts.

jan 7 012 jan 7 013

 

Once all of the bolts are extracted the rear case is lifted off, then the rear maneton bolt is removed, now that was tight!

jan 7 014 jan 7 015

 

The rear row of cylinders can now be lifted off.

 

jan 7 030

Now it is time to remove the pistons. First we placed in a 20mm spreader  plate on top of the piston, this should spread the up to 20 tonne pressure across the face of the piston.

jan 7 024 jan 7 029a

jan 7 031 

After a little pressure the first sleeve gave birth to a piston!

jan 7 020

 

A couple of the pistons were a bit on the tight side,so we filled the sleeves with special brew and warmed them up in front of the space heater, which worked a treat.

jan 7 022 jan 7 021

The last pistons to remove was the master rods 4 and 11, these were a little bit more tricky to clean, as there was less space to work in.

jan 7 026

Pete altered the base plate to allow for the master rod.

jan 7 025

And there we have it, the final piston removed.

jan 7 023

All the children safely tucked up in bed ready for cleaning.

 

 

Supercharger casing removal

Now that the engine is vertical it was quite straight forward to remove the engine mount ring.

dec 31 035

 

Next undo a few locating 1/4″ nuts on the supercharger casing and lift off the supercharger! except one of the through bolts was seized in the rear casing.

dec 31 038

So in the end we lifted off the casing with that stud still seized in the casing, it will be easier to sort that out later on the floor.

dec 31 039dec 31 041

Move the stand out of the way and transfer it to Mr Hoist…

dec 31 043

yet again the internals of the engine are in remarkable condition.

dec 31 042

Just six more studs to remove and we can remove the rear crank case and finally remove the rear sleeves and pistons.

 

 

Crankcase Stand

We decided to make a crankcase mount addition to the engine stand. this will enable use to rotate the engine into the vertical position to allow us to remove the engine mount ring, supercharger, rear section of crankcase and finally the back row of con rods and pistons with sleeves.

dec 31 014 dec 31 013

First thing we did was make some plates that mount onto each side of the middle section of the crank case  at cylinders 4 and 12.

dec 31 017 dec 31 018

After tacking some box section onto the plates we then fitted 40 mm shafts into the box and using a laser to ensure the shafts align through the engine.

dec 31 020dec 31 021

 

Next job was to build up a frame each side to mount a pair of bearings.

dec 31 024

 

We then added a pair of bars to enable us to lock of the engine in the vertical position.

dec 31 025dec 31 026

 

We drilled holes in the box section to allow us to plug weld the shafts.

dec 31 027dec 31 028

 

The moment of truth! take the weight of the engine at the rear and remove the engine mount, then rotate the engine into the vertical position.

dec 31 033

We then added a couple of extra steady posts, next job removal of engine mount ring and supercharger.

Crank Case Strip Down

One of the reasons we have to dismantle the crank case is, we need to remove the sleeves, pistons and con rods as one unit, as the pistons are stuck in the sleeves. The condition of the sleeves below the pistons is in very good condition so they should push out with little effort.

15 dec 002

 

Removing the magnetos was straight forward

15 dec 004

 

Also remove the coupling shaft

15 dec 022

 

Starter removed, as you can see the internals of the engine is in very good condition.

15 dec 024 15 dec 026

 

Next job was to remove the Hobson Injection System. As Pete was away driving a A340-600 to Sydney and back I used the third member of the team to assist , Mr Engine Hoist.

15 dec 02915 dec 032

 

Next job was to remove the reduction gear, as per the manual a little tap with a hide hammer and it came off.

15 dec 030

 

The condition of the reduction gear is excellent , and turns freely for the first time in thirty five years or so.

15 dec 031

 

Next to come off was the reduction gear drive gear.

15 dec 034

 

Take off the locking ring.

15 dec 03515 dec 036

 

Then take of the left hand threaded lock nut (good job I read the manual!) then remove the gear with the inner race of the front cover.

Next we will remove the front cover to reveal the wonders of the Bristol Hercules engine, the timing gears.

17 dec 001

 

And in we go! Pete spent a good day in the workshop and stripped down the timing cover and gears.

17 dec 002 17 dec 003

 

The wonders of a Bristol Hercules, you can not stop admiring the mass of timing gears but in fact it is quite simple.

17 dec 005 17 dec 004

Next job was to strip down the gears. It says in the manual “Provide provision to catch the 74 needle rollers from each transfer gear” that is an under statement! as Pete found out! But they are all accounted for.

17 dec 006

 

All the gears off now, next job is to remove the front section of the crank case, this will allow us to split the front section of the crankshaft.

dec18 001dec18 002

The front casing removal was quite straight forward, just get ready to catch the rollers from the front casing bearing.

dec18 007 dec18 006

 

The next task is going to be a bit fiddly! we need to get the bolts out of the front part of the crank to allow us to remove the first row of con rods with the master rod, then we can remove the bottom pins from the master rod to release the rest of the cylinders.

dec18 004 dec18 005

 

First job undo the maneton bolts, using special tool FB.168782 or in our case a 3/4″ drive ratchet and a six foot scaffolding pole! they where FT or very tight!

dec 22 004

The rear  bolt of the front maneton came straight out, the problem with the front bolt  was that it fouled No.6 sleeve. First we undid all of the sleeve ball joints, which gave us about 10′ of rotation of the engine, this was still not quite enough for us to get the front bolt out.

So we had move No.6 sleeve down a bit to give us clearance. We mixed up our special brew of Forte Diesel Injector cleaner and Variable Vane Turbo Cleaner 50/50 mix and flooded the back of No.6 piston.

dec 22 015 

After a twelve hour soak, the special brew had worked its way through and was dripping out of the sleeve.

dec 22 013

Next we had to make up a puller to move the sleeve, we altered one of the cylinder removal tools by milling a slot in it to allow us to fit it at the base of the sleeve around the con rod.

dec 22 019dec 22 022

 

We then welded together some old puller legs to fit around the sleeve, inserted a plate on top of the piston along with the push jack. The hydraulic connection just happened to come out of one of the ports! That was lucky……

dec 22 024

 

We only needed to move the sleeve about 1.5″ down to give us clearance.

dec 22 020

 

With a bit of gentle heat from a heat gun it soon moved down.

 

dec 22 025 dec 22 026

With both maneton bolts removed, it was a fairly straight forward job to remove the front part of the crank. We then removed the front row master con rod and all of the slave rods as one unit, we then removed the circlips on the wrist pins and dismantled it.

dec 22 028

Next job make a crankshaft stand addition to our frame, this will allow us to rotate the engine unto the vertical position, this allow us to strip down the rear section of the engine, gearbox, supercharger and rear set of sleeves etc.

The last of the heads and cylinders removed

Well we finally got there, we have managed to remove all of the remaining heads and cylinders. Typically the last head to remove No.3 was a tad on the tight side, but with the aid of a couple of bottle jacks it soon gave up.

12 dec 00312 dec 004

 

Cylinders 6,7,8 and nine came off very easily due to the oil seeping down the sleeves over the last thirty five years or so.

12 dec 022

No 9 actually came off as per the manual, remove base nuts and slide off!

12 dec 029

The last base nut removed

12 dec 030

The last cylinder to come off was No.3 , like the head it was a bit reluctant to come off, but with a bit of pressure from the 30 tonne jack we teased it off.

12 dec 023 12 dec 027

And there we have it, phase one completed.

12 dec 031

Time to re hydrate!

The next few jobs are to remove the magnetos and carburetor,  then we will start stripping down the front of the engine.

 

 

New Rotol 4 Blade Prop

Well look what we have found!

A brand new Rotol 4 blade prop, totally complete. Obviously we will not be running this prop but will trade it for parts we will require.

prop23 prop1 prop3 prop6 prop14 prop16 prop22

We would like to display an engine with the full size fourteen foot prop on next year at a memorial service held by the RCAF only a mile from us at  Skipton on Swale , it should look mighty impressive.

 

Heads 6,7,10 and 14 removed, also cylinders 12,13 and 14 removed.

Well steady progress this weekend with a few more heads removed and three more cylinders removed.

1st Dec 009a

Here we are using the air line adapter to aid a head removal, obviously this can only be used when the piston is at , or near TDC.

1st Dec 010

Here we are using our “C” spanner that we  made to slacken of the induction pipe rings, when they have move a quarter of a turn, we can use another “C” spanner with out the extension handle.

1st Dec 011

 

It was time to try out the rotating engine frame! So Pete requested a rotation to starboard of  51 degrees 25 minutes and 43 seconds exactly!

1st Dec 007 1st Dec 006

Not a problem the frame works a treat!

1st Dec 008  

With the engine tilted over we can have a good peak at the carburetor, it is

nice and clean inside and all moves freely.

1st Dec 002 1st Dec 003

 

Shelve’s are filling up with more and more parts.

 

Heads 5, 11,12 and 13 removed also cylinder No.5 removed

This weekend we had a good couple of days working on the 264, we managed to                        remove No. 5 , No.11 ,No.12 and No.13 cylinder heads.

24 Nov 003

 

No.12 Cylinder head proved to be quite tough to remove , we pulled it off until flush with the head studs,

24 Nov 004

then made a new beam so we could push the head off from the main engine casing.

24 Nov 006

Cylinders No.s 5 and 11 came straight off with a slide hammer, these cylinders had a lot more oil present.

24 Nov 005 24 Nov 009

 

Here you can see the supercharge inside the rear casing, it looks in very good condition.

24 Nov 007

Also we had a look inside the magnetos , they are absolutely in perfect condition.

24 Nov 002 24 Nov 001

 

We then pulled off No.5 Cylinder, even though it looks bad, it came of with little effort, just used the jack once to brake the hold on the rings then used the 3/4″ UNF threaded rod to tease it off.

24 Nov 008 24 Nov 009

 

Cylinders 11,12 and 13 ready to be removed.

24 Nov 010

 

Only a few more to go!